The temptation to act, rather than to speak, was pushing Manuel in a direction he wanted to avoid. If he simply went and killed Lorican, would Jin even know? There were millions of ways in which he could resolve the issue and let his apprentice live in peace. But no matter how hard he thought about it, none of the options were befitting a god like him. Taking Lorican’s life would be selfish. It would be simply for his own gain, and even against Jin’s wishes. It was a thought that Manuel quickly dismissed. A selfish god was not something he wanted to become.

“Hmm… Well, there is nothing bad about being ambitious, but you definitely chose a difficult goal,” Manuel said, his voice as cheerful and optimistic as always.

“Even if you start training now, you and Lorican will both move at the same pace. He won’t grow any older, like most wizards. So as you would grow stronger and wiser, he would too. And in this regard, he has over a century of a head start.”

“But you killed your master despite the age difference. Just like with the other Five-point Star members.”

“Sheesh, glad you have to bring that up all the time. Listen, I’m not really proud of it, but it did kinda save countless lives and end the reign of a crazy emperor.”

“I don’t need you to justify yourself. I get it. Not sure I agree with it, but I understand why you did it. Right now though, I need to know how. How did you beat those who had that head start?”

“Revolutionary magic!” Manuel exclaimed as if he was trying to advertise it.

“I don’t follow.”

“Well, firstly, your advantage is that you know your enemy. Lorican specializes in mind-manipulating magic. So you know what to prepare for. Naturally, that also means he is somewhat proficient with the basics as well, so it’s best to expect a change of strategy on his side too. He can’t do the same. You have no spell of your own yet. Nothing you’d be honing as of now. You’re a blank slate. Hard to predict.”

“Predict…” Jin muttered to himself. “That’s how you defeated them. Your foresight, right?”

“Ding ding ding! Bingo! Foresight is good at predicting attacks, since there are not that many possible futures. But then there was also my automatic teleport spell, for defense, and the fact that I had studied their magic before and knew how to counter it.”

“Right. You know Lorican, so I can learn about him from you. All I need now are the spells. Can you teach me your foresight?”

“Ahaha, no, absolutely not,” Manuel replied and scratched his head. “Foresight is a pain in the butt to use. Your eyes go whooom! And then you see the branches of possibilities and the more you look around, the more your head hurts. Then you focus on one small part and everything goes swish and you’re all sick from the movement. It’s not easy.”

“I can learn hard stuff too.”

“Yeah, but the problem is that you shouldn’t. I find it thrilling to look forth. It’s easy for me because I like it so much. If you learn it out of necessity, it will only be more difficult, and a spell like that can cause brain damage that even I can’t fix. So please, pick something else.”

Before Jin could say a word, Manuel dove right into his rambling tendencies.

“You see, time is different for magic. Magic doesn’t see time passing. Only events. Every time between two events is the same for magic. There are no seconds, minutes, or hours. Just cause and effect. You need to specify clearly what you are looking for. Otherwise, magic will just bring you all the information it has, and that can really break your brain as it’s trying to interpret it.”

“I understood literally none of that,” Jin frowned at the man. “But I get the gist of it. Brain can’t process the knowledge unless you control it really well, right?”

“Correct!”

“But then what can my spell be? Help me out a little!”

“Slow down. Don’t be in such a rush. No good idea comes to you when you’re under pressure. Well, actually, it does, but that pressure would have to be life-threatening, and I don’t recommend that, hehe. So, let’s start easily. What do you like? What are your hobbies?”

“Learning magic?”

Manuel rolled his eyes and leaned against the wall behind them. “Learning magic is like saying you’re learning apples. Makes no sense! But come on, there has to be more. Something you really like.”

“I really don’t know. Like… okay, today, I really liked the celebration with my friends. I liked Airo’s dance. I liked the music. Then… I guess I like peace? Certainty, you know? But also adventure. Like when you send us out. The deliveries are an adventure, but we know you can help us if necessary.”

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Manuel scratched his chin. “Hmm… Certainty, adventure, music, and friends. Hmm…”

“You got an idea?”

“Hmm… Nope, not a clue.”

“Oh come on!” Jin yelled at him.

“Relax! The process can’t be rushed. Just keep thinking about it, okay? And maybe in the meantime, we just train the basics.” He gestured towards the middle of the room, suggesting they go for another round.

“Fine, but you better try coming up with some ideas too.”

“Oh please, who do you think I am? I adore coming up with new spells. We’ll find you a suitable one, I promise!”

“Come on, let’s spar a bit today!” Jin kept pestering Kaili that one windy morning as they gathered in the kitchen. If this was perhaps an unusual behaviour, she wouldn’t mind, but for the past week, he hasn’t kept quiet about his desire to train with someone.

“Absolutely not! I’m not learning any combat magic and you know it!”

“Then you’ll test your defensive magic!”

“No is a no. Besides, it’s too early. Give me a break, would you? I woke up barely an hour ago.”

“Why don’t you ask Manuel?” Cia asked with her mouth full of breakfast.

“No, it has to be someone I can beat in a fight. With Manuel, the spell would never work. So what do you say, Cia? A quick round or two?”

“Absolutely not. Your magical experiments always end badly. You’re lucky Manuel managed to fix my horn last time. These things don’t regrow, you know?”

Jin sighed and rested his head against the table. “I have it ready now. I just know it! I only need to do a quick test run to see if it works.”

“You could help him, you know?” Pecker whispered to Airo and nudged him with his beak.

The young Cloudfolk rolled his eyes. He much preferred to practice his magic alone, but Jin’s sad face and puppy eyes were too much for his soul to handle.

“Fine, I’ll help you out.” The moment Airo said that, Jin’s eyes lit up like a ley-line during the noon.

“But only after we finish the job!” he added. “I don’t want to tire myself out before the delivery.”

Jin shrugged. “Yeah, that’s a good point. First proper job of this week. Better stay sharp.”

“Hello, my dear apprentices!” Manuel’s voice came only a moment before he appeared in a brief flash of light. At this point, the kids were so used to his arrivals that it barely surprised them.

“May I ask you to come see me in the living room once you’re done eating? It’s quite important.” Without giving them a chance to respond, he disappeared once more.

The four looked at each other, shrugged, and kept eating. He did tell them that they should come only after breakfast, so there was no need to rush. Such an old wizard had to have a lot of patience.

“What do you think he wants?” Jin asked.

“To share some information about the package and destination,” Airo replied with absolute certainty. It was the most logical answer, given their past experiences.

None of them expected to find a guest sitting in an armchair opposite of Manuel. They had no words to say. Those got stuck in their throats the moment they saw Rudy, in his full unsealed glory, sipping on one of Manuel’s teas.

“Oh, hey there. Don’t hit me, please,” He spoke as he saw the kids instinctively conjure their auras.

“Relax you guys, we’re on good terms now,” Manuel assured them and gestured over to the table where four steaming cups waited for them as well.

“Good terms?” Cia’s voice cracked. “He tried to kill you! Twice!”

“He trapped us in a mine!” Airo added.

“Indeed, but I honestly feel like I am the one to blame here,” Manuel set his cup aside. “I ignored the calls for help that the demons sent my way all those years ago. Rudy had a reason to hate me. Then I sealed him away for decades. Jin was right. That’s a pretty bad fate. So of course he was unhappy once he got out again. But then I let him escape on purpose to help you become wizards. Even there I am to blame more than he is.”

Rudy gave them a smile filled with so many sharp teeth it was more unsettling than friendly. His entire spiky composition made him seem dangerous no matter what his true intentions were.

“See? We worked it out. No hard feelings between us. Besides, he gave me a sweet deal in exchange for my freedom.”

Jin took a step forward. “Why? Why is he free?” In his head he connected the dots. It wasn’t too long since he went to the basement to speak to the demon. Did Manuel know this? Was this just another one of his twisted mind games?

“I asked him to come with you this time and help you out with your job. Like a personal bodyguard.”

The four looked at the demon, then back to Manuel to make sure he was being serious.

“But… we have you as our bodyguard,” Kaili raised a good point.

“Not this time. I always look into the future of every job you take. There are so many variables that it’s hard to predict exactly what will happen, but I just check to see if there aren’t any catastrophic outcomes.”

“And are there this time?” Airo asked.

“No, but… Something’s wrong.”

“Lorican?” Jin muttered.

“No. I do not see him in your future. Nor do I see anyone dying. There isn’t anything particularly terrible happening. At least not at first glance. But… Let’s say that every one of your past jobs was like a tree. There were paths you could take and they all led to different futures. But this time… It’s like I’m looking at a forest. So many possibilities in such a short timespan. It’s hard to see into your future at all. To be honest, I am not sure what to expect. It scares me a little. I’d love to go with you, but my presence there would cause only problems.”

“So we’ll take this gigantic demon with us instead? Yeah, I’m sure he won’t attract any negative attention at all,” Cia remarked.

“I’ll be in my sword form. You’ll carry me around and I’ll help you when necessary.”

“So will I, Manuel added, but only if it’s really necessary. If you call for me, I’ll hear you and will come running.”

He reached beside his armchair and showed them the Cordicon. “You’ll have to take it with you this time. This will be a trip into a… rather faraway place. The device will work as a long-distance anchor.”

“How much of a faraway place?” Airo asked.

“Well… a different world kind of faraway.”

This replaced at least some of the children’s worries with excitement.

“Another world? Which one?” Jin asked, his eyes sparkling.

Manuel smiled and looked at Airo. “You’ll be going to Windflow. The place where the Cloudfolk came from.”